Cisco Unified Service Monitor (USM) is part of the Cisco Unified Communications Management Suite, consisting of Cisco Unified Provisioning Manager (UPM), Cisco Unified Operations Manager (UOM), Cisco Unified Service Monitor, and Cisco Unified Service Statistics Manager (USSM). Cisco Unified Service Monitor continuously monitors active calls supported by the Cisco Unified Communications system and provides near real-time notification when the voice quality of a call fails to meet a user-defined quality threshold (refer to Figure 1). In addition to voice-quality monitoring, Cisco Unified Service Monitor allows you to perform call classification based on a local dial plan. The on-demand call-detail-record (CDR) reports allow you to view the call records for call analysis.

The system generates user-experience reports that provide lists and details of the endpoints (for example, phones and gateways) that are most frequently affected by voice-quality problems. The reports allow you to understand service quality at a system level through call-quality metrics gathered from Cisco Voice Transmission Quality (VTQ) functions. The reports provide information about real-time service quality through Cisco 1040 Sensors and the Cisco Network Analysis Module (NAM) 4.0 and above. and later. The enhanced call-stream correlation report (Figure 2) provides detailed call metrics collected from multiple instances of Cisco 1040 Sensors and the Cisco NAM which will allow system administrators to identify network segments that have a lower-quality user experience.

Figure 2. Cisco Unified Service Monitor: Stream Correlation Report

Features and Benefits

Voice-Quality Measurements and Alerts

Cisco Unified Service Monitor monitors voice-quality measurements in a voice-over-IP (VoIP) network and produces alerts based on measurements exceeding preset thresholds. Key voice-call characteristics such as codec type, jitter, and packet loss are collected and reported.

The phone-based Cisco VTQ solution provides user-experience metrics at the end of all active calls in the network, expressed as a Mean Opinion Score (MOS) calculated value. Real-time MOS values can be produced every 60 seconds for monitored active calls using Cisco 1040 Sensors and the Cisco NAM. Threshold-based alerts are sent to upstream applications such as Cisco Unified Operations Manager or a manager-of-managers application.

Thresholds

Cisco Unified Service Monitor allows you to set thresholds based on device types and codec types, incorporates support for Cisco Unified Communications Manager 8.5, and includes reporting data export. Alerts are sent to upstream applications such as Cisco Unified Operations Manager when a MOS threshold is violated.

Call Classification

Cisco Unified Service Monitor allows you to classify calls based on dial plan per cluster. Call classification has default system-defined call categories and also allows you to define call categories to suit their deployment. Cisco Unified Service Monitor can classify calls to multiple categories to help ensure that users can track calls based on call types. The on-demand CDR reports provide a rich set of filters to generate important call information to facilitate detailed analysis.

Integration with Cisco Unified Operations Manager

Integration with Cisco Unified Operations Manager allows you to send near real-time alerts through Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) traps, email, paging, and syslog messages to notify administrators of call-quality degradation. Cisco Unified Operations Manager also allows you to simulate synthetic voice traffic using the Cisco IOS
® Software IP service-level agreement (SLA) feature and to perform path analysis between the devices where the endpoints are connected in order to troubleshoot network problems that result in user-experience degradation. For more information, please visit
http://www.cisco.com/go/cuom.

Cisco 1040 Sensors, deployed close to the endpoint (IP phone, gateway, or voicemail system), monitor and evaluate call quality and report this information for active calls in near real time. The Cisco 1040 Sensor, shown in Figure 3, is a shelf-top unit that connects to the network and obtains Power over Ethernet (PoE) through a Cisco Catalyst
® switch.

Figure 3. Cisco 1040 Sensor

Cisco Network Analysis Module

The Cisco Network Analysis Module Family of products offers superior visibility into application and network performance to help ensure consistent and efficient delivery of applications and services to end users. The family includes both integrated service modules and self-contained appliances offering deployment flexibility essential for managing application performance and improving operational manageability of the underlying network. Figure 4 shows the Cisco Network Analysis Module For more information, please visit
http://www.cisco.com/go/nam.

Figure 4. Cisco Network Analysis Module

Table 1 lists the differences between the Cisco 1040 Sensor and the Cisco Network Analysis Module.

The base part number includes licensing for the indicated number of phones, and licenses are added to increase the number of phones supported (Table 4). You can order Cisco Unified Service Monitor as part of a management suite bundle or as a standalone product. You can order the Cisco 1040 Sensor as a standalone component or as part of the UCMS-MON bundle. The Cisco 1040 Sensor comes in two- and five-pack versions, as shown in Table 4.

Cisco Unified Service Monitor 8.6 is a minor upgrade from either USM 8.0 or USM 8.5 and does not require a new license. For the minor upgrade, download the USM 8.6 software image from the Cisco.com software
download site. It is a major upgrade from USM 2.x so all existing USM 2.x customers must purchase the upgrade license
(L-USM-B-UPG=) to get it to work. The upgrade part number is the single part number required to update any USM 2.x, regardless of the number of phones supported.

To place an order, visit the
Cisco Ordering Homepage. The Cisco Unified Communications Management Suite Ordering Guide, available to Cisco employees and partners, provides instructions on how to order management product bundles that deliver significant savings over the individual product pricing. Please contact your Cisco account representative for details.